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"War Zone" is chronologically the first episode of Crusade, although it was the eighth produced and the twelfth episode aired on TNT. The episode was written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Janet Greek. This episode was made at the behest of TNT, rather than any plans that J. Michael Straczynski had in motion.

Captain Matthew Gideon assembles the crew that will be with him on the experimental starship Excalibur. Their Mission: explore the reaches of space to find a cure for the deadly DrakhVirus that will destroy all life on Earth in five years.

13 episodes of Crusade were produced before TNT canceled the series. According to posts by J. Michael Straczynski, which are archived on jmsnews.com, TNT broadcast the episodes out of the intended sequence. The order of the episodes was then revised when they were re-broadcasted on the Sci-Fi channel, the Sci-Fi channel actually contacted Straczynski and asked which order he would prefer the episodes were broadcast. A third order was formally endorsed by Straczynski as the "true" chronological sequence of events for the episodes in The Babylon 5 Historical Database as published in Across Time and Space: The Chronologies of Babylon 5. This particular ordering supersedes Straczynski's own "preferred" sequence from a strictly chronological and causal standpoint. The original broadcast order as set by TNT was used for the DVD releases.